Sugar-anionic clay composite materials: intercalation of pentoses in layered double hydroxide

The intercalation of non-ionized guest pentoses (ribose and 2-deoxyribose) into the Mg-Al and Zn-Al layered double hydroxides (LDHs) was carried out at 298 K by the calcination-rehydration reaction using the Mg-Al and Zn-Al oxide precursors calcined at 773 K. The resulting solid products reconstructed the LDH structure with incorporating pentoses, and the maximum amount of ribose intercalated by the Mg-Al oxide precursor was approximately 20 times that by the Zn-Al oxide precursor. The ribose/Mg-Al LDH was observed to have the expanded LDH structure with a broad (003) spacing of 0.85 nm. As the thickness of the LDH hydroxide basal layer is 0.48 nm, the interlayer distance of the ribose/Mg-Al LDH is 0.37 nm. This value corresponds to molecular size of ribose in thickness (0.36 nm), supporting that ribose is horizontally oriented in the interlayer space of LDH. The maximum amount of ribose intercalated by the Mg-Al oxide precursor was approximately 5 times that of 2-deoxyribose. Ribose is substituted only by the hydroxyl group at C-2 position for 2-deoxyribose. Therefore, the number of hydroxyl group of sugar is essentially important for the intercalation of sugar molecule into the LDH, suggesting that the intercalation behavior of sugar for the LDH was greatly influenced by hydrogen bond between hydroxyl group of the intercalated pentose and the LDH hydroxide basal layers.     

SYNTHESIS OF MESOPOROUS POLY(STYRENE-co-MALEIC ANHYDRIDE)/SILICA HYBRID MATERIALS VIA A NONSURFACTANT-TEMPLATED SOL-GEL PROCESS*

Mesoporous poly (styrene-co-maleic anhydride)/silica hybrid materials have been prepared. The synthesis wasachieved by the HCl-catalyzed sol-gel reactions of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and styrene-maleic anhydride copolymerin the presence of 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES) as a coupling agent and citric acid as a nonsurfactant template orpore-forming agent, followed by ethanol extraction. Characterization results from nitrogen sorption isotherms and powder X-ray diffraction indicate that polymer-modified mesoporous materials with large specific surface areas (e.g. 900 m~2/g) andpore volumes (e.g. 0.6 cm~3/g) could be prepared. As the citric acid concentration is increased, the specific surface areas, porevolumes and pore diameters of the hybrid materials increase.     

有机/无机杂化材料担载季铵盐催化剂的制备及其在相转移催化反应中的应用

利用溶胶-凝胶(S0l-gel)技术制备了新型的有机／无机杂化材料担载的季铵盐催化剂。优化了制备方法、反应条件等多种因素；考察了其作为相转移催化剂在1-溴代正庚烷与碘化钾的亲核取代反应中的应用，转化率最高可达到95％。     

In Situ Processing of Nano Crystalline Oxide Particles/Polymer Hybrid

Nano sized crystalline particles/polymer hybrids were synthesized form designed metal-organic precursors. The newly developed method is composed of the synthesis of organic matrix by polymerization and the in situ nucleation and growth of crystalline oxide particles in the organic matrix below 100°C. The design of metal-organic precursor modified with polymerizable ligand and the selection of reaction conditions does influence the size and crystallinity of ceramic particles in organic matrix. The nano-sized magnetic particle/polymer hybrid exhibits the interesting feature of superparamagnetism and quantum size effect. The crystalline particles of BaTiO₃/, PbTiO₃/, and KNbO₃/polymer hybrids behave to be dielectric and show the typical electro-rheological behavior.     

Scratch and Abrasion Resistant Coatings on Plastic Lenses—State of the Art,Current Developments and Perspectives

The manufacturing of ophthalmic lenses is one of the most important markets worldwide and, therefore, strong research efforts are undertaken to continuously improve the quality of the products, either silicate glasses or organic polymer lenses. Hybrid sol-gel based materials play a major role in this highly competitive field and have contributed significantly to the commercial success of the organic base materials. Recent developments concern fast curing and patternable coatings that might soon become part of this business. The compatibility of hybrid sol-gel materials either with organic dyes or with inorganic vacuum borne coatings offers further possibilities to develop highly sophisticated lenses meeting not only customer needs like perfect corrective function, high optical quality and protection, but also high durability as well as cosmetic and decorative aspects. An overview and a few recent developments are outlined below.     

Properties of a genetic algorithm extended by a random self-learning operator and asymmetric mutations: A convergence study for a task of powder-pattern indexing

Genetic algorithms represent a powerful global-optimisation tool applicable in solving tasks of high complexity in science, technology, medicine, communication, etc. The usual genetic-algorithm calculation scheme is extended here by introduction of a quadratic self-learning operator, which performs a partial local search for randomly selected representatives of the population. This operator is aimed as a minor deterministic contribution to the (stochastic) genetic search. The population representing the trial solutions is split into two equal subpopulations allowed to exhibit different mutation rates (so called asymmetric mutation). The convergence is studied in detail exploiting a crystallographic-test example of indexing of powder diffraction data of orthorhombic lithium copper oxide, varying such parameters as mutation rates and the learning rate. It is shown through the averaged (over the subpopulation) fitness behaviour, how the genetic diversity in the population depends on the mutation rate of the given subpopulation. Conditions and algorithm parameter values favourable for convergence in the framework of proposed approach are discussed using the results for the mentioned example. Further data are studied with a somewhat modified algorithm using periodically varying mutation rates and a problem-specific operator. The chance of finding the global optimum and the convergence speed are observed to be strongly influenced by the effective mutation level and on the self-learning level. The optimal values of these two parameters are about 6 and 5%, respectively. The periodic changes of mutation rate are found to improve the explorative abilities of the algorithm. The results of the study confirm that the applied methodology leads to improvement of the classical genetic algorithm and, therefore, it is expected to be helpful in constructing of algorithms permitting to solve similar tasks of higher complexity.     

Preparation and Characterization of N-4-Nitrophenyl-L-prolinol Nanocrystals in Sol-Gel Matrices

Organic nanocrystals of N-4-nitrophenyl-l-prolinol (NPP) have been grown in sol-gel matrices prepared from silicon alkoxide precursors. Our process is based on the control of the nucleation and growth kinetics of the dye in the pores of dense gels. Nanocomposites gel-glasses are obtained with a high optical quality due to the small size of the nanocrystals (10-20 nm). Differential scanning calorimetry experiments evidenced clearly the melting point of NPP nanocrystals, which is registered 51°C above that of NPP powder. Micro-Raman and solid state NMR spectroscopies allowed us to demonstrate that our nanocrystallization process does not chemically modify NPP molecules. We specified also the nature of interactions existing between the NPP nanocrystals and the xerogels. These strong interactions, which explain the important increase of the melting point of the nanocrystals in comparison to the NPP powder, are hydrogen bonds between nitro groups of NPP and uncondensed silanol functions of the silicate network.     

Synthesis of silanized polyether urethane hybrid systems. Study of the curing process through hydrogen bonding interactions

Different types of silanized polyurethanes (SPUR) were prepared in two ways: the first type (a), by reacting a polyether diol with an isocyanatesilane and the second type (b) by reacting it with diisocyanate (IPDI) and afterwards with aminosilane. These systems are able to cure with atmospheric moisture and, as a consequence, a tridimensional hybrid structure is formed where the inorganic and organic phases are bonded with covalent bonds. The evolution of the curing process in both systems has been monitored by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, through the changes observed in the carbonyl stretching vibration region. The results obtained show that the SPURs of kind (b) present stronger hydrogen bonding interactions as a consequence of urea groups present in the final structure. Moreover, given the proximity of both urethane and urea groups to alkoxysilane end groups, during the alkoxysilane curing process these groups are forced to approximate themselves even further and therefore the reticulation process leads to an increase of the self association of urethane and urea groups.Finally, DSC has been used to measure T_g values of the systems studied before and after the curing process. The obtained results have confirmed the main conclusions obtained in FTIR analysis.     

Silica-supported Copper（Ⅱ） Catalyzed Coupling of Arylboronic Acids with Imidazoles

Immobilized copper（Ⅱ） in organic-inorganic hybrid materials catalyzed Ar-N coupling of arylboronic acids with imidazoles has been developed. Arylboronic acids reacted with imidazoles smoothly in the presence of a 3-（2-aminoethylamino）propyl functionalized silica gel immobilized copper（Ⅱ） catalyst （10 mol%） in methanol without any additives and bases. The reactions generated the corresponding cross-coupling products in good yields. Furthermore, silica-supported copper can be recovered and recycled by a simple filtration procedure and used for five consecutive trials without decreases in activity.     

Supramolecular assemblies from single-chain hydrocarbon fluorocarbon hybrid bolaamphiphiles

Three types of single-chain hydrocarbon fluorocarbon hybrid bolaamphiphiles were synthesized.They readily formed different kinds of organized supramolecular assemblies,including vesicles,tapes,and micellar fibers,in aqueous solution.The aggregates morphology was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) after negative staining.The superstructures of these aggregates seemed to be determined by the geometry and the head group's properties of the corresponding amphiphiles.